Court increases sentence for Iraqi man who raped girl he forced to marry

Turku Court of Appeal has sentenced an Iraqi man to seven years and two months in prison for raping a relative he had forced to marry him, Yle reports.

The Southwest Finland District Court sentenced the man in 2025 to six and a half years in prison for aggravated human trafficking, child abduction and aggravated deprivation of liberty. The Court of Appeal added rape to the charges and increased the sentence.

The court found that the girl had no opportunity to refuse sexual intercourse.

Years of abuse

The man forced the 13-year-old girl to marry him abroad in 2008. They moved to Finland in 2012.

He pressured her to have sex daily or weekly. She gave birth to three of his children during the 2010s, including two while she was still a minor.

The Court of Appeal found that the man kept the girl under his control and exploited her dependent and vulnerable situation. She had no money, had not attended school and did not speak the language in the foreign country.

In 2018, the man abducted the children and kept them in Iraq for six years. He took custody of them without authorisation and transported them to Sweden on a passenger ship.

He was arrested abroad under a European arrest warrant in August 2024 and has been in custody since September of that year.

Rare case

The case is unusual because child marriages often remain hidden in Finland.

The victim’s legal counsel previously told Yle that the victim’s determination to seek justice had been crucial in the case.

Forced marriage was made a separate criminal offence in Finland in 2025. Previously, it could be punished under the Criminal Code as human trafficking, aggravated human trafficking or coercion.